Kansas City Videography Happenings

Whether you aspire to become a videographer or just want to know how to shoot more professional-looking videos, you need more than good equipment. These five tips from J&C Video will help you shoot video like a professional and will give your work an instant boost in quality.

Get good results when shooting video outdoors. You may think that outdoor videography would be simple, because the sun provides lighting. However, to get the best outdoor video results, shoot with the sun at your back. The people you are videoing may complain about facing the sun, but your video will be better than the other way around. If you are facing the sun instead, it puts the subject’s face in a silhouette, resulting in a dark figure with no visible features and you will miss their facial expressions. You can improve a backlit situation by moving to one side or another, and some cameras have a feature that lets you reduce the effects of backlighting.

Use a tripod for stability. Most amateur video ends up looking shaky, which is absolutely no fun to watch. Many camcorders do come with various image stabilization technologies, but they can only do so much to correct shaky hands. Shooting video from a flat surface or on a tripod is a good remedy, and most tripods are a very affordable solution. Using a tripod or flat surface will also free up your own hands to make necessary adjustments to the video.

Watch your use of the zoom function. Overuse of the zoom feature will result in a video that looks amateurish and even fuzzy. As tempting as it is to do, instead of zooming in, physically get closer to your subject, or zoom before starting the video. If you do need to zoom in or out, go very slow and steady, and do not zoom out again too soon. Doing so will just make people dizzy.

Speaking of zooming, avoid unnecessary zooms or pans entirely. Stop yourself from adding random zooms and pans, which distract from the video. Check to make sure you have a good reason for zooming or panning (slowly!).

Capture good sound with a microphone. While capturing compelling video, remember that good audio is a must-have—otherwise, your video may turn out useless. Two common mistakes are to forget to record audio completely, and to fail to monitor the sound you are getting from your subject. The microphones built into most camcorders are fairly basic, recording audio from any direction. Your best option is to get your subjects as close to the microphone as possible. Ideally, your camcorder will have a jack for plugging in an external microphone. Invest in a microphone—even a cheap one—for better video quality.

Be a little sneaky. Often, the best videos are being taken when you are inconspicuously capturing your subject’s natural behavior. When shooting event videos, be inconspicuous to catch the natural behavior of those you are filming. People tend to “act” when they think they are being filmed—even if you tell them to act natural. It is human nature to want to portray what you want people to think about you. However, capturing the “real” people will make for a better video.